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Design and optimization of prosthetic foot by using polylactic acid 3D printing

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Abstract

This paper describes the complete design process of a passive prosthetic foot manufactured of Polylactic acid (PLA). It focuses on the reduction in the weight of prosthetic feet. Most of the prosthetic feet are designed with more weight and material than required. The structure of this passive prosthetic foot is designed and optimized as light as possible by using topology optimization. The topology-optimized model is printed from a Three-dimensional (3D) printer directly rather than interpreting the model using a Computer-aided design (CAD) software. The finite element analysis and the experiments are conducted to validate the structure. The test equipment is designed and installed for simulating the boundary conditions of the Heel strike (HS) and Toe off (TO). Since the weight of the prosthetic directly affects the mobility of patients, the weight of the proposed model is reduced 62 % when compared initial model to the final model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, 100 Inha-ro, Nam-gu, Incheon, Korea

    Zhen Tao, Hyoung-Jong Ahn, Chenglong Lian, Kwang-Hee Lee & Chul-Hee Lee

Authors
  1. Zhen Tao
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  2. Hyoung-Jong Ahn
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  3. Chenglong Lian
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  4. Kwang-Hee Lee
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  5. Chul-Hee Lee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chul-Hee Lee.

Additional information

Recommended by Associate Editor Yoon Hyuk Kim

Zhen Tao received his Bachelor of Science degree in 2015 from Mechanical Engineering, Hannam University, Korea. He is a master student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, Korea. His research interests are in the areas of 3D printing, tribology (friction, adhesion and wear), structural FE analysis and optimization.

Chul-Hee Lee is a Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, Korea. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1994 and Master of Science degree in 1996, both from Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, Korea, and his Doctor of philosophy degree in 2006 from Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. His research interests are in the areas of transportation-vehicle components design and controls, tribology (friction, adhesion, wear and lubrication), structural FE analysis and optimization, vehicle dynamic and vibration analysis, smart materials and mechanical control.

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Tao, Z., Ahn, HJ., Lian, C. et al. Design and optimization of prosthetic foot by using polylactic acid 3D printing. J Mech Sci Technol 31, 2393–2398 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-017-0436-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-017-0436-2

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